REVISED 90DETR-S1578 Staffing Support Services Services for UI 2021.docx

STATE OF NEVADA

DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION

Purchasing Division 515 East Musser Street, Suite 300 │ Carson City, NV 89701 Phone: 775-684-0170 │ Fax: 775-684-0188

Request for Proposal: 90DETR-S1578 For Fraud InvestigationStaffing Support Services for Unemployment Insurance (UI)

Release Date: 05/07/2021 Deadline for Submission and Opening Date and Time: 06/07/2021 at 2:00 PM PDT Refer to Proposal Timeline and Submission Requirements for complete RFP schedule and submission instructions

Single point of contact for the RFP:

Gideon Davis, Purchasing Officer 3 Phone, 775-515-5173 Email Address, gkdavis@admin.nv.gov

(TTY for Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 800-326-6868 Ask the relay agent to dial: 1-775-515-5173/V.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS GOVERNING PROCUREMENT

This is an emergency purchase, authorized under NRS 333.300(4), NRS 333.380, and NAC 333.114.

All applicable Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) and Nevada Administrative Code (NAC) documentation can be found at: www.leg.state.nv.us/law1.cfm.

Prospective vendors are advised to review Nevada’s ethical standards requirements, including but not limited to NRS 281A, NRS 333.800, and NAC 333.155.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The State of Nevada Purchasing Division, on behalf of the Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation (DETR), Employment Security Division (ESD), Unemployment Insurance Program (UI) is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to provide emergency staffing support services to aid DETR with backlog related to internal fraud investigations services as described in the scope of work.

The State intends to award one (1) contract in conjunction with this Request for Proposals (RFP), as determined in the best interests of the State. DETR shall administer contract(s) resulting from this RFP. The resulting contract(s) are expected to be for a contract term of four years, subject to Board of Examiners approval.

AGENCY BACKGROUND

UI provides services in a fair, timely, accurate, and efficient manner to employers and citizens of Nevada to stabilize the workforce and minimize the impact of unemployment on the State’s economy. UI provides temporary, partial wage replacements to workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own and is primarily funded by employer-paid premiums.

UI was faced with a rapid and unprecedented surge in claim volume due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From March 15, 2020 through July 31, 2020; 469,191 regular unemployment claims were filed and another 344,681 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims were filed, totaling 813,872 claims. This increased call volume of customers seeking information on the status of their claim. The State’s unemployment rate peaked at 30.1%, the highest unemployment rate ever recorded for any state in any month, including in the Great Depression. By May, the rate began to decrease significantly, but by then UI was facing a tidal wave of claims. UI volume increased from an average of 20,000 unemployment claims per week in early March to over 300,000 claims a week by August. By December, more than 1.5 million initial unemployment claims had been filed since the pandemic started. Along with that, the program was hit with fraud at a rate never seen before, receiving at least 400,000 fraudulent claims.

DETR has taken steps to address challenges by increasing staffing levels, implementing process improvements, and adding multiple technology solutions. The State is processing a backlog of fraudulent filed claims that require investigation involving law enforcement and banking vendors.

During the pandemic fraud has become a substantial challenge for UI programs nationwide due to PUA program design; allowing for self-attestation combined with efforts to ensure rapid payment to individuals impacted by the sudden loss of income.

Many PUA claims filed are suspected of being fraudulent based on robust data analysis and as a result have immediate fraud holds placed on them to prevent payment.

Currently, the State’s regular unemployment system has over 60,000 claims with active fraud holds.

While there are fraud holds automatically set on PUA claims, the legacy system that houses regular UI claims was only recently programmed to place fraud holds on suspected fraudulent claims.

Claimants submit a request through a Benefit Payment Control Unit (BPC) call center or email to provide identification through upload processes, request further analysis of their claims, and remove the fraud holds. While this is a small percentage of the total volume of claims with holds, the volume is greater than BPC has the capacity to review, investigate, and process timely.

Under normal circumstances, BPC core responsibility is to conduct fraud investigations involving theft of Unemployment Insurance benefits from inception to disposition. Due to the volume of fraudulent claims, and the manual investigation process to put a case together, BPC has not been able to conduct full criminal investigations since March 2020.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Assist with review of initial & in-process claims flagged potentially fraudulent to allow BPC to:

Assist in contacting claimants and owners of SSNs to determine if a valid questionable identity issue exists.

Review notifications of potential fraud submitted and create issues as needed.

Assist in resolving issues and process overpayments.

Assist in contacting claimant with frozen debit cards and 1099G corrections.

Identify legitimate claimants and release payments in a timely manner to individuals who qualify, and are eligible for, unemployment benefits.

SCOPE OF WORK

Awarded vendor will provide services to assist the BPC in investigating individualreviewing individual initial claims suspected to be fraudulent. Vendor proposal should sufficiently detail how vendor will provide investigative services similar to in-house services provided by investigations conducted inhouse by BPC.

Vendor proposal should detail how you would determine which claims are fraudulent based on direction provided by BPC, and which claims are legitimate.

Investigators Support staff must determine if personal identifying information (PII) matches. PII includes, but is not limited to:

Social security number, Date of birth, Name, Address, and Telephone number.

Investigators Support staff also must determine if identifying documents submitted by the claimant are legally valid documents belonging to the individual providing them based on direction provided by BPC. Documents include, but are not limited to:

Government issued photo ID, Credit card bills, Utility Bills, and Social security cards.

Other factors investigated for review may include, but are not limited to:

Suspicious/disposable email domains, Shared address on multiple claims with no common link (i.e., same last name), The same email address used on multiple claims with no common link, Variations of the same email address, and

PLAN DETAILS

Explain your organization's approach to account management.

How will you ensure that at least 80% of work reviewed meets federal government standards for quality of the work performed?

How will your staff gather additional facts when needed to make quality decisions?

What technology solutions will you use to keep confidential information confidential?

How will you ensure that your staff are able to perform the work while receiving minimal guidance from Nevada UI?

How will you ensure confidential claimant and employer information is protected by the individuals you have hired to perform the work?

Explain your experience obtaining information from interested parties, resolving conflicts with that information, and:

Issuing decisions regarding whether a claimant is able and available for suitable work?

Issuing decisions regarding whether a payment received from an employer by a claimant impacts the receipt of unemployment benefits?

Issuing decisions regarding whether a claimant has refused an offer of suitable employment?

issuing decisions regarding whether a claimant’s separation from employment entitles them to unemployment benefits?

ATTACHMENTS

INCORPORATED ATTACHMENTS. To be read and not returned.

Terms and Conditions for Services Terms and Conditions for Goods Contract Form Insurance Schedule Federal Laws and Authorities

PROPOSAL ATTACHMENTS. To be completed and returned.

Vendor Information Response Confidentiality and Certification of Indemnification Vendor Certifications Reference Questionnaire Proposed Staff Resume Cost Schedule Certification Regarding Lobbying

PROPOSAL TIMELINE

The following represents the proposed timeline for this project.

All times stated are Pacific Time (PT).

These dates represent a tentative schedule of events.

The State reserves the right to modify these dates at any time.

PROPOSAL EVALUATION PROCESS

Proposal evaluation and scoring is conducted in accordance with NRS 333.335 and NAC 333.160-333.165.

Proposals shall be kept confidential until a contract is awarded.

In the event the RFP is withdrawn prior to award, proposals remain confidential.

The evaluation committee is an independent committee established to evaluate and score proposals submitted in response to the RFP.

Financial stability shall be scored on a pass/fail basis.

Proposals shall be consistently evaluated and scored based upon the following factors and relative weights.

Presentations

Following the evaluation and scoring process specified above, the State may require vendors to make a presentation of their proposal to the evaluation committee or other State staff, as applicable.

The State, at its option, may limit participation in vendor presentations to vendors above a natural break in the relative scores from technical and cost proposals.

Following the presentations, the combined technical, cost, and presentation scores will become the final score for a vendor’s proposal.

The State reserves the right to add additional criteria or presentations.

The State reserves the right to forego vendor presentations and select vendor(s) based on the written proposals submitted.

MANDATORY MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Pursuant to NRS 333.311 a contact cannot be awarded to a proposal that does not comply with the requirements listed in this section.

Confirm vendor agrees to comply with required contract terms on Indemnification: "To the fullest extent permitted by law Contractor shall indemnify, hold harmless and defend, not excluding the State's right to participate, the State from and against all liability, claims, actions, damages, losses, and expenses, including without limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, arising out of any alleged negligent or willing acts or omissions of Contractor, its officers, employees and agents."

Confirm vendor agrees to comply with required contract terms on Limited Liability: "The State will not waive and intends to assert available NRS chapter 41 liability limitations in all cases. Contract liability of both parties shall not be subject to punitive damages. Liquidated damages shall not apply unless otherwise specified in the incorporated contract attachments. Damages for any State breach shall never exceed the amount of funds appropriated for payment under this Contract, but not yet paid to Contractor, for the fiscal year budget in existence at the time of the breach. Damages for any Contractor breach shall not exceed one hundred and fifty percent (150%) of the contract maximum "not to exceed" value. Contractor's tort liability shall not be limited."

The awarded vendor shall be the sole point of contract responsibility. The State shall look solely to the awarded vendor for the performance of all contractual obligations which may result from an award based on this RFP, and the awarded vendor shall not be relieved for the non-performance of any or all subcontractors.

Confirm vendor will comply with State IT requirement that data be encrypted in transit and in rest.

Confirm vendor will comply with State IT requirement that State data assets must be maintained stateside and data will not be held offshore.

Each vendor shall include in its proposal a complete disclosure of any alleged significant prior or ongoing contract failures, contract breaches, any civil or criminal litigation or investigations pending which involves the vendor or in which the vendor has been judged guilty or liable.

Vendor will complete Vendor Information Response form and include in their proposal.

CRITICAL ITEMS

In addition to the Scope of Work and Attachments, the items listed in this section are critical to the success of the project. These items will be used in evaluating and scoring the proposal. Vendor proposal should address items in this section in enough detail to provide evaluators an accurate understanding of vendor capabilities. Proposals that fail to sufficiently respond to these items may be considered non-responsive.

CONTRACT FORM. The State strongly prefers vendors agree to the terms of the attached Contract Form as is. Ability to agree to contract terms is a high priority to the State. Vendors who cannot agree to the contract as is must include a redlined Word version of the attached Contract Form with their proposal response.

INSURANCE SCHEDULE. Confirm vendor will comply with attached Insurance Schedule. If not, please explain which areas are causing non-compliance and attach a red line if necessary.

Awarded vendor shall maintain, for the duration of the contract, insurance coverages as set forth in the fully executed contract.

Work on the contract shall not begin until after the awarded vendor has submitted acceptable evidence of the required insurance coverages.

Failure to maintain any required insurance coverage or acceptable alternative method of insurance shall be deemed a breach of contract.

VENDOR BACKGROUND

Company background/history and why vendor is qualified to provide the services described in this RFP.

Provide a brief description of the length of time vendor has been providing services described in this RFP to the public and/or private sector.

VENDOR STAFF RESUMES

A resume shall be included for each proposed key personnel, see Proposed Staff Resume.

A resume shall also be included for any proposed key subcontractor personnel.

SUBCONTRACTORS

Subcontractors are defined as a third party, not directly employed by the contractor, who shall provide services identified in this RFP. This does not include third parties who provide support or incidental services to the contractor.

Proposal should include a completed Vendor Information Response form for each subcontractor.

Vendor shall not allow any subcontractor to commence work until all insurance required of the subcontractor is provided to the vendor.

Vendor proposal shall identify specific requirements of the project for which each subcontractor shall perform services.

How the work of any subcontractor(s) shall be supervised;

How channels of communication shall be maintained;

How compliance with contracts terms and conditions will be assured; and Previous experience with subcontractor(s).

VENDOR FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The information requested in this section is designated as confidential business information by the Administrator pursuant to NRS 333.020(5(b) and is not public information pursuant to NRS 333.333.

This information should be submitted as a separate attachment, flagged as confidential in NevadaEPro.

Proposing vendor shall provide the following financial information and documentation:

Dun and Bradstreet Number Federal Tax Identification Number The last two (2) full years and current year interim:

1. Profit and Loss Statements

2. Balance Statements

BUSINESS REFERENCES

The information requested in this section is designated as confidential business information by the Administrator pursuant to NRS 333.020(5(b) and is not public information pursuant to NRS 333.333.

Vendors shall provide a minimum of three (3) business references from similar projects performed for private and/or public sector clients within the last five (5) years, see Reference Questionnaire.

The purpose of these references is to document relevant experience and aid in the evaluation process.

Business references should return Reference Questionnaire directly to Single Point of Contact via email.

Business references will not be accepted directly from proposing vendor.

The State will not disclose submitted references, but will confirm if a reference has been received.

The State reserves the right to contact references during evaluation.

BACKGROUND CHECKS

All contractor personnel assigned to the contract shall have a background check from the Federal Bureau of Investigation pursuant to NRS 239B.010. All fingerprints shall be forwarded to the Central Repository for Nevada Records of Criminal History (RCCD) for submission to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Any employee of the selected vendor, who shall require any type of system access, shall have a State Background Check before system access shall be granted. The vendor or its employees may be denied access to the premises if they have not been security cleared.

All costs associated with this shall be at the contractor’s expense, including any fees associated with federal and local criminal record checks.

The contractor shall provide to the contracting agency’s Human Resource Department or designee the following documents:

A State Background Check for the state the individual claims as their permanent residency. The contractor shall use the following site which has immediate results: http://www.integrascan.com. Once the contractor has a copy of their personal background check from their state of record, they shall forward those results to the designated State representative who shall then forward it to the contracting agency’s Human Resource Department or designee in order to obtain approval for interim system access;

A Fingerprint Background Waiver Form, signed by the contractor(s); and A Prior Arrests and Criminal Conviction Disclosure Form, signed by the contractor(s).

If out-of-state, contractor shall provide one (1) completed fingerprint card from a local sheriff’s office (or other law enforcement agency).

In lieu of the out-of-state fingerprint card, contractors can perform LiveScan fingerprinting at the Nevada Department of Public Safety, RCCD.

Contractor shall provide a money order or cashier’s check made payable to the RCCD at the current rate at time of submission.

In lieu of the above background check and subject to acceptance by the contracting agency’s Human Resource Department or designee, contractor may submit a current active federal authority security clearance (FBI, DoD, NSA) indicating a fingerprint-based background check has been completed with no positive findings.

Contractor(s) may not begin work until such time as they have been cleared by the contracting agency’s Human Resource Department or designee.

Positive findings from a background check are reviewed by the contracting agency’s Human Resource Department or designee, in consultation with the State Chief Information Security Officer, and may result in the removal of vendor staff from the project.

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

This section identifies documents that shall be submitted to be considered responsive. Vendors are encouraged to review all RFP requirements to ensure all requested information is included in their response.

Vendors are encouraged to submit a single PDF file per proposal section if possible.

Technical proposal information and Cost proposal information shall not be included in the same attachment.

Additional attachments may be included if necessary, but should be kept to a minimum.

Files name format should be ‘VendorName-SectionTitle.*’

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

Title Page Table of Contents Response to Mandatory Minimum Requirements Response to Critical Items Response to Scope of Work Proposed Staff Resumes Other Informational Material

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. If necessary. Attachment can be flagged confidential in NevadaEPro.

Title Page Table of Contents Trade Secret information, cross referenced to the technical proposal

COST PROPOSAL

VENDOR FINANCIAL INFORMATION. Attachment can be flagged confidential in NevadaEPro.

SIGNED ATTACHMENTS

Vendor Information Response Confidentiality and Certification of Indemnification Certification Regarding Lobbying

OTHER ATTACHMENTS. If necessary, not recommended.

REFERENCE QUESTIONNAIRES. Not submitted directly by vendor.

Fraud Investigation Services RFP 90DETR-S1578 Page 2 of 2 image1.jpg